Er Doc's Forever Gift

An abrupt nod in his direction as though he was immaterial to this scene had his blood more than heating—it was boiling. Down, boy. Not the time or place. For confrontation, or getting friendly. What was it with her that already his body was reacting so blatantly? She really had worked a number on him. Bet she had no idea either. Damn it.

‘Hi, Fliss. This is a bummer, isn’t it?’ Sienna was focusing on their patient almost as if she hadn’t acknowledged him while everyone prepared to transfer the girl over to the hospital bed and change oxygen supplies.

‘It’s not fair, is what it is,’ grizzled the once again maskless girl. ‘You told me I’d be all right for a few days, Doc Sienna.’

‘I’m sorry, Fliss, I guess I was wrong.’ Nothing but compassion in her voice.

Sienna was taking the blame for something that was totally out of her control? Miss—make that Dr—Frosty? He really had read her all wrong last week. Or was it only in her medical capacity she managed to show warmth towards others? ‘I take it Felicity’s a regular patient of yours?’ Harry looked to Sienna.

‘Yes. We’ve been working towards this stay on the island for weeks now.’

Sympathy radiated out of those eyes he now saw were vivid blue, the colour of Lake Tekapo on a summer’s day. A lake he’d spent a day on trying to catch trout the first time he worked in New Zealand. It had been a fantastic day and despite the lack of fish he’d never forgotten how relaxed the stunning mountainous scenery and the bouncing waters had made him feel. It was a place he intended to revisit, if he ever found himself with a couple of spare days. The lake would be warmer than Sienna was towards him. Why the chill? Could that explain this overreaction to her? She was a challenge? It couldn’t be that he wanted to get to know her better, except maybe physically, and by the steely glint in those eyes that wasn’t happening.

‘Can I have the notes?’ A hand with rose-pink, perfectly manicured nails highlighting long, slim fingers waved in front of him.

Harry shook his head to rid the thoughts his overheated brain conjured up of those nails tripping over his hot skin. This was his unfriendly neighbour. Doc Frosty would never be interested in running her fingers anywhere near him. Not unless she was going to use them to impale him for not turning down the music the moment she’d requested he do so. The following morning she’d barely managed a nod in his direction as she’d left for work when he’d gone out to the four-wheel-drive that came with the apartment.

‘Excuse me, the notes?’

Focus, man. Passing over the required information, he explained, ‘The school first-aid officer managed to get Felicity to bring up a lot of water before we arrived, but she’s still coughing up fluid intermittently.’ A lot of that had to do with the mucus clogging her lungs, but still there was danger in residual salt water wreaking havoc with her breathing.

‘I’m glad the first-aid officer knew what to do.’ The frost melted a little as she studied Felicity.

‘I agree.’ Harry nodded before filling Sienna in on more details. Then he crossed to Felicity. ‘You take care, now; get back on your feet quick smart. Don’t let Tony Wilcox win this one.’ He got a watery smile in return.

‘Who’s Tony Wilcox?’ Doc Frosty asked from right beside him in a not so chilly tone.

‘The guy who caused Felicity to have her head under water too long.’

‘He didn’t mean it,’ their patient interjected, with a red flush going on in her cheeks.

So that was how this went. Young Felicity was keen on Tony and didn’t want to show it. ‘I’m sure he didn’t.’ Harry grinned, then turned to Sienna, his mouth still curved upward. ‘Might see you later, Doctor.’

As in, I could drop in to your place with a bottle of wine.

And probably get thrown out on his butt, because that had to be the dumbest idea he’d had in a long time.

Once again he didn’t get any acknowledgement from Sienna as she headed into the lift, all her attention on their patient. He couldn’t fault her for that. Felicity came first, but it irked that she hadn’t taken a few seconds to give him a nod. Yet the woman had apologised to her young patient for her trip going horribly wrong. The doc did have a heart. She might keep it buried deep, but he certainly couldn’t fault her for that. He did the same. It saved getting too involved and then having to bail when things got too intense. But still, he wouldn’t have minded a smile: a warm, tender one like the smile she had for her patient.

* * *

Sienna held her breath until the door to the lift closed off the view of her neighbour. Her very sexy neighbour. It didn’t make sense. Harry wore red one-size-fits-most overalls and he looked hot beyond belief. There again, she’d been out of the dating circuit for years so could be that a four-foot-nothing, overweight goat would look sexy in the right circumstances.

A hand was tugging at her sleeve. Drawing in air and shutting out Harry, she turned to her patient. ‘Hey, Fliss, I hear you took seawater on board. That won’t make your lungs happy.’

The face mask was snatched away and words spewed out. ‘It’s not fair. I worked so hard to go on the trip. It’s the first time Mum’s let me go away without her and now I’ll be a prisoner in my own home again.’

‘Put this back on.’ As the lift jerked downward Sienna slipped the mask over Felicity’s face.

It was promptly torn off. ‘Why bother? I don’t have a life anyway. Not one I like.’ Tears were tracking down her sallow cheeks as she gasped in tight lungfuls of air. Short, sharp gasps that wouldn’t give her anywhere near enough oxygen. ‘What happens if I don’t get home for Christmas, huh?’

To run with the physical problem, or the real issue behind this? Like other children with cystic fibrosis, Felicity had missed out on a lot over the years. ‘Your mum only wants what’s best for you.’ Sienna drew a breath. Yvonne Little also had a son with the same condition and was raising the children on her own, her husband having thrown in the towel saying he couldn’t cope. As if Yvonne cruised through everything. ‘I know you want more than anything to be doing what your friends are, but we both understand that’s not always possible.’

‘Doesn’t mean I have to like it.’

‘No, it doesn’t. As for Christmas, you’ll be home well before then.’ Fliss could also be back in here with yet another of the massive chest infections she was prone to, but Sienna wasn’t bringing up that subject. The girl knew it as well as she did.

‘My grandparents are coming in two weeks. I don’t want to be in here then.’

This discussion could go round and round endlessly. Sienna gave her a smile. ‘Let’s get you cleaned up, and start monitoring your obs. If everything’s all right, you should be able to go home tomorrow.’ She’d been about to say ‘go back to Great Barrier Island’ but realised in the nick of time it wasn’t her place, that Yvonne didn’t need her adding to her problems.

‘Whatever.’ Felicity tugged the mask back over her face, closed her eyes and turned her shoulder towards Sienna.

Sienna made a mental note to talk to the children’s clinical psychologist before leaving at the end of the day. Felicity needed help beyond her scope.

Early that afternoon Sienna hung seven-year-old Andrew Dixon’s file on the hook at the end of his bed and turned to his parents. ‘Andrew’s responded well to his surgery. His bloods are back to normal, indicating there’s no more infection.’ The burst appendix had temporarily knocked the boy for six. ‘As for his appetite, it’s coming on in leaps and bounds.’

‘When can we take him home?’ asked his exhausted father.

Sienna smiled. ‘Tomorrow morning after I’ve checked to make sure everything’s still going how it should.’ She loved giving out the good news.

Andrew’s mother was on the verge of tears. ‘Thank you so much for everything you’ve done. I hate to think what would’ve happened if we hadn’t got him here in time.’

‘Don’t torture yourself with that. You did get him here, and soon he’ll be creating mayhem at home and you’ll be trying to shush him up.’

‘Thank goodness for the rescue helicopter. The pilot’s great and the doctor awesome. He was so calm even when it was so serious.’

Sienna’s heart leapt. ‘Who was your doctor?’

‘Harry someone. I’m going to write to the head of the rescue base saying how good he was.’

‘That’s always a nice thing to do.’ Harry won people over so easily, no doubt his charm and smile coming into play. He hadn’t won her over. No, but she’d hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him all week. Sienna studied these two in front of her. ‘Andrew’s going to sleep for a while. Why don’t you take a break?’ They’d sat at his bedside most of the past two days and nights. ‘Go to a café and have a decent meal. Not a hospital one that’s unrecognisable. I’ll be here and the nurses will keep a close eye on your boy.’

‘But what if he wakes and asks for us?’

‘Your phone numbers are on file.’ And the nurses were adept at calming upset children. ‘Go on. Get out of here and have some couple time.’

‘Couple time? What’s that?’

Don’t ask me.

‘Remember you’re about to return home to three boisterous kids,’ Sienna said. She’d met Andrew’s siblings yesterday, and the ward hadn’t been quite the quiet haven it was supposed to be while they were here. ‘Time to yourselves is what you both need.’ Sienna all but shooed them out of the room.

Andrew’s father nodded as he passed her. ‘You’re right. A short spell to ourselves will do wonders. We’ll be at that café on the corner if anything changes.’

‘It’s not going to.’ Sienna watched the couple walk away and for a moment wished there was someone special in her life to go have a meal and coffee with, to help her let go of all the hang-ups from a normal day on a children’s ward. Someone like Harry? Definitely not. He was too sure of himself for her liking. So if she wasn’t liking him, why this sensation of slipping on ice whenever she was near him? She’d seen first-hand how caring a doctor he was with Fliss, and that always scored points with her. He just wasn’t such a caring neighbour. Was that a big deal? They might’ve got off on the wrong foot, and a simple conversation could correct that. Did she want to fix it? She was single for a reason, wasn’t prepared to risk the hurt of being dumped again. Her life was contained, probably too contained, but it was comfortable. Safe. Boring?

‘Go home, Sienna. Take time out for yourself.’ Dale appeared in front of her, refocusing her errant brain.

‘It’s just gone two. I’ve got hours to go. Anyway, I told Andrew’s parents I’d be here while they take a much needed break.’

‘I’ve got it covered.’ The head of Paediatrics was studying her as if he’d never seen her before. ‘You’ve put in ridiculously long hours this week, as always.’

‘That’s how the job goes.’

‘Most of us have a life outside these four walls that we actively try to participate in with family and friends, not spend our energy avoiding.’

But she didn’t have family close by.

You do have friends in town.

Who were equally tied up with work as she was.

‘Spread those wings, Si. Lighten up a bit.’

Yes, Dad.

‘Take the whole weekend off. I’ve got your patients covered,’ Dale remonstrated like a harassed parent. ‘You’re not doing yourself or anyone else any favours working all these ridiculous hours.’

I need to make sure I’m busy all the time.

But he was right. She had put in uncountable hours throughout the week, and even for her she was overtired. It was time to relax. And honestly, not to have to think about medications and results and children in pain sounded like bliss. It’d be a rare treat—if only she knew what to do with it. ‘I’m out of here.’

Walking off the ward in the middle of the afternoon should’ve been exciting. Instead it was...worrying. Hours stretched ahead. Her father was right: she was far too ensconced in her life of all work and no play. But how to change? Where to start?

At home, standing on her narrow deck, Sienna couldn’t come up with anything to do with this precious time out. It felt alien. The sun was still in the sky. The birds still tweeting. Had she really become so rigid in how she lived that she couldn’t think outside the square?

Too serious, my girl. You need to relax sometimes.

Staring across her front lawn, Sienna noted the grass needed cutting. While the area was pocket-sized, the thought of hauling out the electric mower didn’t excite her. Not that it ever did, but keeping the grass under control was one of those things she did to feel on top of her world. Pathetic.

Deliberately turning away, Sienna glanced across at the adjoining apartment. If Harry was at home she might be tempted to take a bottle of wine over and apologise for being such a grump last week. Her fingers tingled and she flexed them to relax the tension taking hold in her muscles. She did want more excitement outside of doctoring in her life, right? But with an attractive man who managed to get under her skin even when she was mad at him? Why not? Go for broke. Or go put her head under the pillow and not come out for a month. That should work.

Spinning around, she headed inside, away from that lawn, those shut windows, the car that needed a wash. In the lounge she automatically flicked a straight curtain straighter.

Stretch your wings.

Yeah, right. Like how? Picking up her phone, she checked for messages, pressed speed dial for her friend Anna. ‘Hey, sorry I’m so late returning your call but it’s been one of those days.’

Anna laughed. ‘When isn’t it with you?’

‘Says the lawyer who never goes home before midnight. So what’s up? Want to have a meal downtown tomorrow night?’ Girlfriends united. Boring if fun. Why did she glance across to Harry’s place? Nothing would ever happen between them.

‘We can celebrate. As of this morning you legally own every last nail and tile in your swanky apartment.’

‘I’d forgotten you were filing my petition today. So Bernie’s finally paying up? After three years arguing? Unbelievable.’ Sienna’s heart stuttered. ‘This is great news. I’ll never have to think of him again.’ The lying, cheating fiancé who’d decided he preferred to live with the woman he’d reconnected with at his school reunion than marry her when for years he’d sworn he loved her more than his high-end car and multi-million-dollar home.

‘It’s all wrapped up, plus there’s a bonus. He’s paying your legal costs and money for half that rental property you bought jointly.’

‘My shout for tomorrow night. Cortado’s.’ Their favourite place for major celebrations. Putting the phone down, Sienna again checked the time, but only minutes had passed. ‘Now what?’

Go for routine.

In Titirangi over an hour later she pinged the locks on her car, swung a leg over her cycle and headed up the winding road leading to Piha Beach. Almost immediately the high humidity had her in a sweat. Good for the muscles, not so great for her breathing, but she kept pedalling hard. This would get whatever was eating her out of the system. She was not thinking about Harry, right? Not picturing that good-looking face or the smile that increased the speed with which her blood moved through her veins. Not at all.

A car swerved around her, the passenger jeering about her butt as it passed.

‘Get a life, will you?’ she snarled between breaths. Why couldn’t people leave others to get on with what they enjoyed? What was so much fun about being rude to strangers?

Cycling was her time to relax, because she concentrated entirely on riding and often forgot what had got her on the bike in the first place. Except today it wasn’t working.

What did Harry do for relaxation? Apart from hold noisy parties for upset colleagues, or stay out overnight maybe? Did she really care? Unfortunately she might. Though she shouldn’t. He was on a temporary contract and would soon be gone again. It had taken months for her to trust Bernie enough to get close to him, not weeks, so she could forget all about getting to know this man. Hard to do, that. He just seemed to pop up in her mind whenever there was a free moment.

The front wheel wobbled in thick gravel. So much for concentrating on riding. Shoving the neighbour and the world out of her mind, she focused on getting to the top of the busy road without taking a break.

Harry had muscles in all the right places and made whatever he wore look superb. Of course she’d noticed. It would be rude not to. Some sights weren’t made to be ignored. Bet he did some form of sport or worked out. Was she so desperate for changes in her life she was hallucinating about the neighbour? Except Harry wasn’t a fantasy and her reactions to his physique were all too real. Oh, yes, real and solid and tempting. Damn it. Next stop, the library for a pile of books to keep her entertained until this feeling passed. Probably about when Harry left town.

Wheel-wobble. Again. Her cycling had taken a turn for the worse.

Deep breath, focus, right pedal down, left up. Left down, right up. That’s it. Careful, sharp bend and steep decline. Squeeze the brake, change gear. Concentrate.

It worked. Until the road straightened and the incline lessened, giving her nothing to concentrate on so hard. Nothing except the man persisting in getting in her head space. What would he be like in bed? He exuded confidence in everything else that she’d seen so it followed that—

Toot-toot.

Sienna swerved abruptly, away from the centre of the road, and towards—over—the edge. Her front wheel dropped abruptly, alarmingly. Her body flipped forward, her hands gripping the now useless handlebars, her legs still pumping, even though she was in freefall; down, down, down. Bushes tore at her, twisted the cycle left then right, and on downward. The momentum compounded the speed. More bushes, bigger now, snagging at her, tearing across her face, her arms. Then she was upside down, slamming the ground with her shoulder, tossed sideways, with the cycle she still held on to with a fierceness she couldn’t explain now twisted between her legs. Pain tore through her, then a thud.

Bounce. Bounce.

Slowing.

A tree blocked her path.

Thump.

Blackness engulfed her.

CHAPTER THREE

SIENNA BLINKED HER eyes open, gasped at the pain filling her body from every direction. ‘What happened? Where am I?’ There were dark clouds in her head, along with pulsing, banging symbols of pain. Dragging her eyelids up, she stared at the scene in front of her. Trees, bushes...

Darkness took over again.

‘Hello?’

She was having a nightmare. Any second now she’d wake up and find herself on her bike heading down the hill towards the beach. Bike. Hill. Rolling over and over.

‘Can you hear me?’

A groan escaped her constricted throat. She’d gone off the edge of the embankment, a sheer drop down to these bushes. The pain was really making itself known, as if her body had a grudge with her. In her legs and back, her arms, the left shoulder—sucking in a breath, she tried not to think about what that might mean. She needed to toughen up, check herself out instead of panicking. Work out what the damage was and make a plan for getting out of here.

Moving could be detrimental. Spinal damage is a real possibility.

‘Are you all right down there?’

That persistent voice was annoying. ‘Go away. I’m trying to think here.’

‘I don’t know if you can hear me but I’ve phoned for help.’

So the voice wasn’t in her head. There really was someone up on the road. She wasn’t alone. As she opened her mouth to holler a reply her lungs filled with air and her upper body moved. Pain splintered her and the blackness rolled in again.

Thwup, thwup, thwup.

The bushes flattened and the trees swayed. A helicopter filled the little view Sienna had of the sky when she next pulled her eyes open. A bright red-and-yellow rescue chopper. Gratitude swamped her. Whoever that man was who’d called for help, she owed him big time.

A figure attached to a thick rope was lowering in her direction. Help had arrived. In a pair of red overalls. She’d be out of here in no time. Then she’d be able to get patched up and back on her feet.

If my injuries aren’t serious.

A shudder tripped through her, her tightening muscles sending warning signals of pain to her brain. It was tempting to move, to try to sit up, to prove she was all right. The doctor in her kicked in. Stay still. Let the rescue crew do their job. But waiting had become difficult. What if she’d broken her spine? She was a paediatrician. She didn’t have time for learning to walk again, or never walking...

‘Hello, this is becoming a habit.’ A familiar, husky voice broke through her fear. ‘Harrison Frost, your neighbour.’

Harrison. ‘Not Harry, then.’ Harrison was way sexier than Harry. Ah? Hello? Head injury talking? Sex while smashed up on the side of a hill? Why not? That’d certainly be creating a new norm for her. Don’t forget, she told herself, that if she hadn’t been thinking about him she wouldn’t be lying here afraid to move.

‘Good, you’re cognitive. And yes, I go by Harry most of the time.’ The guy was snapping open the hooks that held him to the rope and giving the thumbs-up to someone above in the chopper, at the same time speaking into a radio. ‘Take it away.’

What were the odds he’d be the one coming to her rescue? But then, nothing seemed to be going right for her lately, so those were as short as the two-year-old with pneumonia she’d treated this week. She could only hope Harry was more forthcoming in his attitude as a doctor than as a neighbour. ‘You didn’t bring the music.’ Anything to keep from the pain getting stronger with every breath.

‘I would’ve if I’d known it was you who’d taken to flying off the side of roads.’ Harrison shucked out of his backpack. ‘Right, let’s check you out. You haven’t moved since coming to a stop against the tree?’ He began disentangling the cycle from her legs.

‘Of course not.’ Unless she’d moved while out cold. ‘I need a neck brace first. My left shoulder is possibly broken. My right ankle is giving me grief, but as for internal injuries I’m certain I’m in the clear.’ The pain throbbed up and down both legs. Bruising from the bike when she’d landed?

‘Leave those decisions to me. Obviously nothing wrong with your head. You’re stringing sentences together and enunciating clearly.’

‘I am a doctor.’ And it was his fault she’d ended up in this mess, tramping through her mind the way he had.

A small smile lifted one corner of his mouth. ‘Right now I’m the doctor, you’re the patient, and I get to make the diagnoses, starting with doing the ABCs.’

Her airway was fine, the proof in her relatively easy breathing when pain wasn’t interfering. ‘Might have known you’d be bossy.’

His smile hit her hard. ‘It goes with the territory and stroppy patients.’

Putting as much indignation into her voice as she could muster, she growled, ‘I’m stroppy?’

‘Yep.’ Harrison’s eyes were focused on her chest, purely to check she was breathing normally.

A twinge of regret came and went. She didn’t want him thinking of her as anything other than a patient. Not really. But it was nice to be noticed by a good-looking guy occasionally. ‘Have you always worked on the helicopters?’

‘No, I’m an emergency specialist so I’ve spent most of my time in emergency departments. Working on rescue choppers is different. It takes some getting used to not having a whole department filled with every bit of equipment I require.’ He might be talking trivia but there was nothing trivial about the way he was checking her over.